Several prominent medical associations have voiced opposition to a proposed gun control rule to increase the number of mental health records shared with the national background check system, saying it would only contribute to the stigma against mental illness.

. . , a key proposition to add mental health records to a national background check database has been vociferously opposed by medical groups. Many voice concern that adding people deemed "mentally unfit" to the national database would increase the stigma of mental illness and dissuade many from seeking help. . . . . . .

Unlike the Manchin-Toomey Bill to expand criminal and mental health background checks for gun purchases, which was defeated in the Senate in April, this amendment would be implemented by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and would not require congressional approval.

In a letter to the HHS, the National Association of State Mental Health Program Directors denounced the plan, fearing that people suffering from mental illness would not seek help for their problems as a result. The proposal would only "exacerbate the stigma faced by people with mental illnesses."

The American Medical Association, American Psychiatric Association, and the American Psychological Association also expressed similar concerns in separate letters to HHS. . . . . . . . . . The relationship between violence and mental illness should be scrutinized. "Substantial research shows that the vast majority of people with serious mental illnesses never act violently, and the vast majority of violent crimes  96 percent by the best available estimate  are not perpetrated by persons with mental disorders," said Dr. Paul Appelbaum, past president of the American Psychiatric Association. "Nearly two-thirds of firearm deaths are suicides and about one-third are homicides."

Knew someone well that had a situation come up where they could have used some counseling. They had to take a pass on it. In their first interview, they were asked if they owned guns. They replied yes, completed the interview and never went back.

3
posted on 06/18/2013 9:13:47 AM PDT
by DoughtyOne
(Speaker John Boehner (R) no (D) no (R)... has more waffles than IHOP.)

Maybe real me do, and pershaps some folks aren’t real men. If a guy has to make very important decisions and what seems right one moment doesn’t the next, they’ll seek outside help. Of course, that’s if they can trust the person they’re talking to. Enter the government to game these people at their most vulnerable time.

5
posted on 06/18/2013 11:00:35 AM PDT
by DoughtyOne
(Speaker John Boehner (R) no (D) no (R)... has more waffles than IHOP.)

There are many highly trained mental health professionals who are not subject to government control and not answerable to left leaning professional organization. Pastoral Psychotherapist also frequently practice Orthomolecular Psychiatry, which means the use natural molecules to treat cognitive and mood disorders rather than drug company molecules. http://www.bestselfusa.com/nutritionalguidancencounselorsnaplesflorida.html

Clients also have a double layer of confidentiality because not only is there “client privilege”, but there is also clergy confidentiality. This field is growing because people have found that secular mental health professionals have an anti-religious bias, a leftist political bias, and are way too comfortable cooperating with secular authorities.

Most if not all medical groups, hospitals, ERS and clinics have no problem snooping and reporting gun ownership re patients, their patients’ family members and others living in the same home with a patient.

However, they might have a problem reporting a potentially dangerous patient being treated by them, with access to a gun to the feds, state and local police.

7
posted on 06/19/2013 9:46:50 AM PDT
by Grampa Dave
('How empty and dead' were they to let Chris Stevens, one of them , die for 'Obama-Clinton fiction?')

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